The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic communications, and more particularly to associating contextual information with electronic communications.
Developments in electronics and computing technology have resulted in a proliferation of computing devices of varying sizes and capabilities for business and personal use. Some computing devices (e.g., electronic devices) are small and highly mobile, such as smart phones and wearable devices (e.g., smart glasses). Other computing devices are multi-screen desktop systems capable of simulations and animated 3-D image renderings. Some common threads between these computing devices and the users of these computing devices include an increase in the volume of communications, multi-tasking, and multi-media information. One evolving and growing application of multi-tasking by the users of computing devices is in electronic communication, and more specifically social media. Social media is rich with contextual information. Users can post pictures, along with comments and the location of the users, at the time of taking the picture, which may be identified by geo-locating applications. Social media is not restricted to personal settings. Businesses operate in different time-zones and in different countries and employees work collaboratively across distances. Similarly, news, information, and communications are shared world-wide.
Furthermore, electronic communications become more complex when a single communication may include multiple modalities, such as short message service (SMS) messaging, voice, video, text, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), social media, blogs, etc. In addition, not all electronic communications are transmitted between users. Some electronic communications may be associated with a single user as opposed to being shared or transmitted, such as calendar entries and alert messages. Given these complexities, the increase in volume of electronic communications, and the anticipated speed of response by other users, it may be important for a user to know the context associated with the creation of an electronic communication.